


Midnight

by patroclux



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 10:02:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6653404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patroclux/pseuds/patroclux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You don't have 'bad dreams,'" Hux scoffed. He sat up slightly, supporting himself with one elbow, and Kylo rose to follow him. "And by the way you were screaming.. you sounded like you were in pain, Ren."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight

_The victory against the light, everything he'd been promised - it was all far from fulfilling._

_A hollowness. A regret of words needed to be heard but left unspoken. He found no pride in the moment, felt no exhilaration._

_Watching the light leave Solo's - no, his_ father's _\- eyes. Surprised to find nothing but forgiveness, acceptance. Love. Things neither patron nor son had ever fully appreciated. And now, and_ now _... Now there simply wasn't any time._

_A scream. His own? Something long forgotten touched his cheeks - tears._

_-_

"Kylo!" Someone was shaking him. "Kylo! Wake up! You'll wake the whole kriffing ship with your yelling."

Vision blurred, mind delusional in its half-consciousness, Ren shot up, instinctively shoving Hux away from him. His hands were shaking - the scars he bore seemingly more real, more present, in this moment. He took a breath. Calmed his pounding heart as best he could.

Hux's accented voice was now just a murmur, quite the contrast to his previous shouting. "Ren." Little more than a whisper. A hand gently met with Kylo's shoulder, and despite the initial flinch he allowed himself to be brought back to the present, wrapped up in the general's embrace. "What happened?"

"I - " He was ashamed to admit it. Nightmares, about something _impossible_? Kylo shook his head. "Nothing." He curled into Hux's arms, finding comfort in the very fabric of his t-shirt. A soft sight escaped him, as his heartbeat settled back to a normal pace. "Just a - a bad dream."

"Mm."

Ren glanced up. Met Hux's gaze, able to see him even in the half-light. "What?"

"You don't have 'bad dreams,'" Hux scoffed. He sat up slightly, supporting himself with one elbow, and Kylo rose to follow him. "And by the way you were _screaming_.. you sounded like you were in pain, Ren."

Kylo swallowed. "It wasn't me who was in pain," he said. His voice caught in his throat. Hux's hand cupped his face, then moved to tuck a few wild strands of hair behind Kylo's ear. The ghost of a touch; something barely there, much like the words that followed.

"Kylo. Tell me."

"My father," came the reply. "I - I _killed_ him, Hux. In the dream." Despite the rising panic he felt - _what if it was real? what if he was condemned to such a monstrosity?_ \- Ren's tone was collected. Steady. Impassive, an almost instinctual thing now.

Hux new better than to pass it off as just a dream, or a figment of the knight's imagination. The Force worked strangely, and nightmares of this sort were more like premonitions, sculpted to become a reality. Even so, he did his best to think otherwise - regardless of the knowledge that it _would_ happen; that it _needed_ to happen. "Your father's not going to die," he murmured. A sickening quiet had descended around them, pressing close.

"Hux - "

The general's tone now neared harshness. " _No_. I don't want this troubling you." Both of them were swimming in madness, in conflict between the dark and the light, as it were. Anything more, anything like these dreams, and the strain engulfing both of them might threaten a destruction both were desperate to evade. _Just let it go, for now. Okay?_

Kylo smiled, then. A falsity, perhaps, but his chest felt lighter at Hux's comfort. A nod; and though unwilling to give in to the darkness fluttering around his eyes, he fell anyways.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is a little all over the place, I know. It's meant to represent how totally empty Kylo feels after killing Han. We learn from TFA that he thinks his only option is to commit to the crime, and I believe that reality haunts him even before he does it.  
>    
> Hux, meanwhile, is struggling with his own conflict. The dark or the light - it's an age-old question. He may be devoted to the First Order, and he may be determined, but he still harbors his own doubts. Both of them have moral sensibilities.
> 
> Despite being portrayed as semi-ruthless killers, they're still human. That's something I try to keep in mind while writing these two. God, they'll be the death of me.
> 
> Tumblr: ovrshade


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